Loud drive..something about to go wrong? :s

[Wazzoo]

Hope I can get some advice on this one, appreciate any ideas.

I've got a WD 250GB drive (IDE, 7200rpm) that I use in an external caddy.

I got it second hand but still sealed in its anti-static bag. To begin with it was fine, its not the quietest of drives by any means but it wasn't bad, just the usual noises. And then about week or so ago I noticed it getting quiet a bit louder. Not in terms of data access but rather the spinning. Before it had quite a quiet but high pitched whine to it which is what I would expect, but its now gone to a lot louder and harsher sound, and this is just from it spinning so it sounds like this all the time. Occasionally it goes a bit quieter again for a while and then it goes back to this louder jarring sound. Thats the best I can describe it!

The long and short of it is that it doesn't seem natural, the only thing that comes to mind is that it sounds almost like bearings were wearing out and the noise was coming from that. Do the bearings wear out in a harddrive?

Do you think I'm likely to see a drive failure in the near future with this? Also, if it is likely to fail, the warrenty runs out in a few months so I need to do something about it soon. Do I have a good enough case to try and claim on the warrenty, or are they not gonna accept "its got noisy!" as a good enough reason :s Would any of the low level diagnostics that come with their disk utility program show anything up that would support a claim or will they just do surface tests and not show any mechanical problems?

Any advice much appreciated! Thanks!

[Edit]
This is the drive..

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=42

Cool, quiet and reliable...anything but that at the moment!

 

[Joe42]

yes, harddisk bearings do wear out, and thats probably whats happening.

First thing to do is back it up, then i think you should contact wd's support.
If the warranty is about to run out, you will need to do everything you can to either send it back or get them to assure you it isn't faulty.

As the bearings wear out, the spindle may start spinning too slowly and become unable to spin up, or it may automatically adjust the motor speed and draw more power to compensate for the bearings. Either way, if the bearings are going then its probably on its last legs, so back it up!

There aren't any utilities or stress tests for spindle motors, the only way to stress it is to spin it up and down frequently or run it hot for a long period of time.

I think the only way to see if its the bearings is to keep using it and see if it dies...

 

[Wazzoo]

Thanks for the advice. Will definately back things up just in case.

If it is a mechanical problem and there's no direct way of getting it to show up and prove I need a replacement, I might try just wearing it down. Powering it up and down repeatedly (not rapidly...not trying to damage it willfully, just if its gonna fail then give it the opportunity too!) and see if it pops its clogs.

Will see what WD say, see if I can find a tech support email that will give me a human reply.

Thanks again!

 

[Skilldibop]

Try taking it out and turning it upside down. If the bearings are going it'll be a bit quieter upside down when you move the forces onto the less worn side of the bearings. If it does this then best start looking for a new drive.